Mackinaw City's Noah Morse signs with Grace Bible College

After a long process, Morse said it was a relief to finally make a decision. “I'm ready to leave,” said Morse, the son of Richard and Jennifer Morse. “There's been quite a few colleges looking at me, and I'm just glad that I finally got to pick one because it's getting towards the end here, and I wasn't ...

MACKINAW CITY — About a month ago, no one was more devastated than Noah Morse.

The Mackinaw City senior guard saw his high school basketball career come to an end in a district final loss to Rudyard in March.

“That district game was really tough for me. I really couldn’t sleep that night because that game was so tough for me,” said Morse, who averaged a team-high 19.7 points per game for the Comets this past season.

But Morse is finally starting to get over it now.

And while his high school career is complete, his basketball career won’t be over for quite some time.

In fact, it’s really only just beginning.

At his high school on Tuesday, Morse signed a National Letter of Intent to play men’s basketball at Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids.

“I’m super excited,” said Morse, whose chose Grace Bible after considering Albion College, Adrian College, Kirkland Community College, Alpena Community College, as well as some other schools. “Playing college ball is one of my biggest dreams and I really worked hard towards it. I’m just so happy to be able to play basketball and play basketball even more at the next level.”

After a long process, Morse said it was a relief to finally make a decision.

“I’m ready to leave,” said Morse, the son of Richard and Jennifer Morse. “There’s been quite a few colleges looking at me, and I’m just glad that I finally got to pick one because it’s getting towards the end here, and I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do. But now that the signing process is over, I’m just really relieved, and I’m just glad I chose Grace because it’s a great college.”

On his first visit to Grace Bible College, a National Christian College Association (NCCAA) school, Morse immediately liked what he saw.

“The first time I went there to visit and do the tour, the coach (Gary Bailey) gave me a tour himself and just talked about the program they had and all the great athletics they had,” Morse said. “Most of their teams they have there are like the best around the area, and they’ve won five national championships in the past years, and I’m just looking forward to being a part of that and winning one in one of my four years there. We’re going to have a pretty solid team, the coach has been telling me.

Page 2 of 2 - “The atmosphere at the college is just perfect, everyone’s so nice. I went out there for the tour and everyone was saying hi to me and being nice. It’s just such a great atmosphere.”

Morse, who plans to major in criminal justice, said he’s unsure of what his role will be with the Tigers next season.

One of his first objectives, though, will be to become stronger, knowing the college level will be much tougher.

“He’s (Coach Bailey) going to give me some workout programs to do, because I’ve got to get stronger. We’re men now, not like high schoolers,” Morse said. “The next level is going to be a lot harder, so he said we’ll work on my role at the beginning of the season and figure out what will work for me.”

Bailey will be bringing in a player who—in addition to averaging close to 20 points during his senior season—was a defensive force, leading the state of Michigan with 5.3 steals per game, while also averaging 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a 44 field goal percentage.

“I’d probably be best defensively,” Morse said. “One of the best defensive players around, I’ve heard from a few coaches say that about me. I led the state in steals this season in classes A-D, so I’m thinking defense will be my best bet.”

When it comes to early goals at Grace, Morse said he wants to continue to grow as a player.

“I want to just keep getting better at basketball because I want to go as far in basketball as I can,” Morse said. “Also, just being a team player, I just hope to contribute what I can to the team.”

Though his high school career is over, Morse who surpassed 1,000 points for his career during his senior season, will go down as one of the best Comets ever.

And he will certainly miss his time at Mackinaw City.

“It was the best time of my life,” Morse said. “The four years, I’m going to miss it a lot, but it’s still nice knowing I’ll still be able to play basketball, just not for Mackinaw.”